James Falkner - Prince Eugene of Savoy

A Genius for War Against Louis XIV and the Ottoman Empire

James Falkner

Now, Murmur Tales of Iron Wars

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

PEN & SWORD MILITARY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright James Falkner, 2022

ISBN 978 1 52675 353 3

The right of James Falkner to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Eugenes Campaigns against the Ottomans

Eugenes Campaigns in Italy

The Battle of Zenta, 11 September 1697

The Movements of the Armies prior to the Battle of Blenheim

The Battle of Blenheim, 13 August 1704

The Battle of Cassano, 16 August 1705

Eugenes March to Save Turin, 1706

The French Siege Works outside Turin, 1706

The March by Eugene and Duke Victor-Amadeus to Attack Toulon, 1707

The Battle of Oudenarde, 11 July 1708

The Battle of Malplaquet, 11 September 1709

The Manouevres before Denain, 1712

Frances Defences on the Rhine

Europe in 1713

The Ottoman Empire, and the Habsburg Empire in the East

B&W Plates

Prince Eugene of Savoy, c. 1700. Imperial field commander and President of the War Council in Vienna.

Duke Victor-Amadeus of Savoy.

Eugenes mother Olympia Mancini, Countess de Soissons, c. 1670.

Emperor Leopold of Austria, c. 1680.

Turken Louis: Louis-Guillaume, Margrave of Baden, sponsor and supporter of the young Eugene.

Count Ernst Rdiger von Starhemberg, staunch defender of Vienna in 1683.

Field Marshal Guido von Starhemberg, a close colleague of Eugene, who later became a severe critic.

The fortress of Belgrade, viewed from across the Danube.

Emperor Joseph I, a great supporter of Eugene.

Emperor Charles VI of Austria, Habsburg claimant to the throne of Spain.

Nicholas de Catinat, Marshal of France.

Franois de Neufville, Duc de Villeroi, Marshal of France.

Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, Duc de Vendme.

Louis-Franois, Duc de Boufflers, Marshal of France.

Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshal of France.

Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha, Ottoman commander defeated at Vienna in 1683.

Grfin Elenore Batthyny, close friend of Eugene.

An Ottoman janissary.

The Htel de Soissons, where Eugene was born.

Eugenes Winterhof Palace in Vienna, where he died.

Colour Plates

Prince Eugene of Savoy c. 1730.

The Austrian siege of Buda (Ofen), 1686.

The Second Battle of Mohacs, 12 August 1687.

A battle for a river crossing in Hungary, c. 1690.

Eugene at the battle for Belgrade, 16 August 1717.

Belgrade, the Ottoman White Castle, before its capture by Eugene.

Ottoman sipahi regular cavalry, c. 1700.

Louis XIV, c. 1680, about the time he refused Eugene a commission in his army.

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough with his Chief of Engineers Colonel John Richards.

Max-Emmanuel Wittelsbach, Elector of Bavaria.

James FitzJames, Duke of Berwick, Marshal of France.

The sack of Buda by Austrian troops, 1686.

Austrian field officer and soldiers, c. 1700.

A contemporary cartoon portrait of Prince Eugene.

The magnificent equestrian statute of Prince Eugene standing in the centre of Vienna bears the stirring inscription To the glorious conqueror of Austrias enemies. True enough, but in his youth Eugene had been intended by the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, for a career in the Church. This was against his nature and inclination, and so the young adventurer fled to Austria to offer his services, and his unbloodied sword, to the Habsburg emperor, Leopold I. At the time a formidable army, sent by the sultan in Constantinople, was at the gates of Vienna, and the safe deliverance of the city in the summer of 1683, and the repulse of what had every appearance of a major Ottoman incursion into central Europe, was an extraordinary feat of arms. The young exile played a gallant part in the drama, attracting favourable attention and setting himself firmly on the way to renown. Eugene proved to have a naturally aggressive talent for soldiering, and in the years that followed he campaigned hard and although an outsider rose rapidly in rank, scoring significant military successes, most notably the astonishing victory in 1697 over the Ottoman army at Zenta on the river Tisza in Hungary.

By the onset of the long war for the throne of Spain just four years later, Eugene ranked as Emperor Leopolds foremost military commander. He was appointed as President of the Imperial War Council, the Hofkriegsrat , and in this role formed a renowned partnership, and a lasting friendship, with Queen Annes Captain-General, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. The Englishman famously brought his army to the Danube to share with Eugene the victory over the French and Bavarians at the Battle of Blenheim (Hchstdt) in August 1704. The military and political shape of Europe changed forever that day, and the two comrades continued to work in close harmony throughout the hard years of campaigning that led to the weary peace achieved at the Treaties of Utrecht, Rastadt and Baden in 1713 and 1714. Although arguing his point from a position of relative weakness, Eugenes persuasive participation in the complex negotiations to bring about this long-overdue peace was significant, and widely acknowledged.

Eugene was a prince in his own right, being a member of the junior branch of the ruling noble house of Savoy, with a natural, perhaps almost brash, self-confidence that stood him in good stead through long years of demanding service to three successive Habsburg emperors. Perhaps understandably it is his famous partnership with Marlborough for which he is best known in Western Europe, and particularly so to the British reader, but this is to see only half of the picture. Eugenes daring march to Turin in the high summer of 1706, moving unchecked around the flank of a large French army to go to the relief of his beleaguered cousin, Duke Victor-Amadeus II of Savoy, must rank at least with Marlboroughs famous march to the Danube, and yet then the dukes opponents had largely been in the dark as to his real intentions. Not so with Eugene, as his opponent, that veteran the Duc de Vendme, was aware of his goal, and yet failed utterly to prevent what stands as an almost unique achievement. Demanding campaigns against stubbornly resilient France lay ahead, and resurgent Ottoman power on the wide grassy plains and marshy wastelands of south-eastern Europe would in time have to be confronted again. There, in unforgiving terrain for large-scale military operations and facing formidable opponents, Eugene achieved major victories on an astonishing scale, such as those at Peterwardein in 1716 and the capture of Belgrade in the following year. As with Zenta, Blenheim and Turin, these successes were regarded as simply the wonders of the age and Eugene pre-eminent amongst the military commanders of the day. He drove his men hard, and often recklessly drove himself, but while demanding much and forgiving little, the affection and trust felt by his shabby and ill-equipped soldiers for their strange, unimpressively stooped and singular commander enabled them repeatedly to achieve great things against daunting odds.